I've picked what I feel are the Top 10 Female Performances of 2010. Choosing the candidates for this list was hard enough, deciding which swim was the best will be even tougher.
There are 6 Long Course and 4 Short Course efforts. You're job is to choose the most impressive swim of 2010. Remember: This is not a personality contest.
Just a week to vote.
The Top 10
- Ranomi Kromowidjojo, 50 SCM Free - 23.37
5th fastest performance of all time. Missed Veldhuis' WR by 0.12 seconds.
- Ranomi Kromowidjojo, 100 SCM Free -51.44
4th fastest performance of all time. Missed Trickett's WR by 0.43 seconds.
- Zhao Jing, 100 LCM Back - 58.94
8th fastest performance of all time. Missed Spofforth's WR by 0.82 seconds
- Natalie Coughlin, 100 SCM - 56.08
4th fastest performance of all time. Missed Sakai's WR by 0.85 seconds
- Zhao Jing, 200 LCM Back - 2:06.46
9th fastest performance of all time. Missed Coventry's WR by 1.65 seconds.
- Rebecca Soni, 100 LCM Breast - 1:04.93
3rd fastest performance of all time. Missed Hardy's WR by 0.48 seconds
- Leisel Jones, 100 SCM Breast - 1:03.63
4th fastest performance of all time. Missed Soni's WR by 0.93 seconds.
- Rebecca Soni, 200 LCM Breast - 2:20.69
6th fastest of all time. Missed Pierse's WR by 0.57 seconds.
- Ye Shiwen, 200 LCM IM - 2:09.37
14th fastest performance of all time. Mised Kukors' WR by 3.22 seconds.
- Hannah Miley, 400 LCM IM - 4:33.09
16th fastest performance of all time. Missed Rice's WR by 3.64 seconds.
Some stellar swims just missed this list. Jessica Hardy's 30.03 50 LCM Breast is the one that I was closest to including.
Other swims that came close to making the Top 10: Katie Hoff's 3:57.07 400m Free, Mireia Belmonte's 2:05.73 200m IM and Ariana Kukors' 58.65 100m IM all from SC Worlds. Jiao Liuyang's 2:05.46 200 LCM Fly and Federica Pellegrini's 1:55.45 200 LCM Free were close, whilst Ranomi Kromowidjojo almost got on the list for the third time with her 53.44 LCM 100m Free (not fully tapered).
Any swims that you feel deserve special mention, add them in the comments.
Australia - No issues with the number of medals, a healthy 11, but just the one Gold. Not great for a team trying to hang onto the No.2 spot in world swimming. On the plus side, they have some new talents in Kenneth To and Kotuku Ngawati... and are back in the Ashes.
US Men - Taking away the US Women & Ryan Lochte, the rest of the US men won just 4 medals. Nathan Adrian was surprisingly absent on the sprint Freestyles and Nick Thoman's star has faded since last year's breakthrough. Looking past Lochte for plusses, Josh Schneider had an impressive international debut and is establishing himself as a big final swimmer. Tyler Clary was solid and Garrett Weber Gale was back to his best. Plus there is Mr. Phelps and Mr. Peirsol to add to this team. Not all doom and gloom, more like a bit overcast.
Russia's last legs on relays - Danila Isotov must have been taking lessons from Alain Bernard before the final of the 4 x 100m Free relay. Isotov flat out choked on the last leg when he was up against Yannick Agnel. Russia's No.1 100m Freestyler going into Dubai was over half a second slower than his teammates. Make no mistake, Isotov lost that relay for Russia rather than Agnel winning it for France. That wasn't the only disappointing last leg for Russia either, individual bronze medalist Nikita Lobintsev didn't look like he ever had a chance of overhauling Garrett Weber Gale on the 4 x 100m Medley relay. I don't want to ruin Christmas in Moscow so I will say that it shows Russia's strength in depth that they won one relay and probably should have won all three.
USA Relays - Despite the Men's Medley team ending the meet on a high for Team USA, the cold hard facts are as follows. 6 Relays, 1 Gold, 3 Silver, 2 Fourths. For most countries that would represent a good meet, but for the world's strongest swimming nation its not up to par. This is USA Swimming we are talking about though, so you know by Shanghai and London they will be back on top.
Federica Pellegrini - Another poor meet for Pellegrini. She is not in a good place right now as Dubai represented another competition of poor results and pulling out of races. Immediately after Dubai she announced that she would be leaving her coach, Stefano Morini. Worryingly I see a lot of similarities between Pellegrini this year and Laure Manaudou as she was coming towards the end of her career. For the Italian's sake, lets hope that she can sort out her issues soon. On talent alone she cannot be matched.
Anastasia Zueva/Yulia Efimova - Russia's female stars were noticeable by their absence from the medal podium. Efimova was the clear favourite in the 50m Breast but ended up fourth and didn't fare any better in the 100 or 200m Breast. Zueva was a long way behind the medalists in her Backstroke events, something she has found in the world rankings all year. Efimova has had a stronger year, but is clearly a level below Rebecca Soni and Leisel Jones right now.
Katinka Hosszu - Expectations were high for Hosszu after some rapid short course yards swimming in America just before Dubai. Unfortunately she was only able to manage 2 fourth-placed finishes. Her 1:58.20 in the 4 x 200m Freestyle relay also wiped out any chance of the Hungarian team making the podium.
Dutch 4 x 100m Free Relay - The Dutch Dream-Team won their Gold, but failed to break a World Record that should have been within their reach. Probably unfair to include them on this list, but I'm still a little bitter.
Roland Schoeman - To quote from Schoeman's twitter feed, 'Back to the drawing board. Serious evaluation needed. Another unsuccessful international meet in the books'. A year to forget for Schoeman.
Arkady Vyatchanin - Please don't think its anti-Russia day today, but Vyatchanin has to make this list. Last year he set an incredible world record in the 200m Back, in a time of 1:46.11. This year he didn't make it out of the heats, finishing 10th in 1:52.62. Suffering from injury early on this year, 2011 can't come soon enough for the big Russian.
This is without doubt the toughest vote we have had so far.
I've picked what I feel are the Top 10 Male Performances of 2010. 7 Long Course, 3 Short Course. You're job is to choose the most impressive swim of MMX. Remember: This is not a personality contest.
Swimming - The sport got its mojo back in Dubai. This was easily the most exciting competition of 2010. It just goes to show that swimming is only at its strongest when we have a global competition.
Ryan Lochte - Just incredible. A sign of how far Lochte has come in the last few years is that none of what he did in Dubai came as a surprise. Clearly ahead of Phelps right now in the run-up to 2012.
Mireia Belmonte -Definitely wins the prize for 'Where did that come from?'. Coming off a so-so long course season, Belmonte was white hot in Dubai. 3 Golds and just beaten into Silver on the 800m Free. Time to step up in LCM now. Top female swimmer of the competition.
Ranomi Kromowidjojo - Confirmed her status as the world's best freestyle sprinter on the women's side. Still only 20, there is still room for big improvement.
US Women - Rebecca Soni dominated the Breaststroke events. Katie Hoff returned to the top of world swimming. Missy Franklin won her first international medal. Natalie Coughlin showed her class once again. Chloe Sutton showed huge improvement on some of her technical aspects.... The future is bright for the US Women.
China - The sleeping giant of the swimming world is wide awake. China has two advantages going forward: a) their rising stars are all very young, b) they have tremendous strength in depth. Winning two of the three relays on the women's side was a huge step forward.
Paul Biedermann - Biedermann had a rough 200m Free where he finished 5th. This naturalyl led to the now standard crowing that Biedermann can only perform with a high-tech suit. Instead, his coach spoke of the need to improve his tactics and that is exactly what he did when winning the 400m Free. Rather than waiting until the final 50m, Biedermann stayed in touch with the lead before taking over at the 300m turn. The time might not have rewrittent the record books, but the final was a Korean and two Chinese swimmers short of the best the world has to offer.
Ous Mellouli - Tunisia's finest hadn't had the best 2010 leading up to Dubai, but he came ready to race. Mellouli's 400m IM was spectacular just missing Laszlo Cseh's old WR and he showed great composure to win the 1500m Free from a morning heat.
Stanislav Donets - There is a new king of short course Backstroke. Donets was untouchable in the 50m and 100m Back finals, but saved his best swim for the last event of the competition. The Russian swam 48.95 to lead off the Medley relay, barely missing Nick Thoman's World Record by 0.01 seconds. Check out his underwaters. Question: Who wins a 100m Back shoot-out between Donets and Lochte?
Camille Muffat - Muffat has had an excellent 2010, but like other years, didn't have much to show for it going into Dubai. That all changed when she won her first senior world medal in the 200m Free final, where she dominated an elite field. A very real medal threat during the next few years.
Naoya Tomita - He might not be Japan's No.3 200m Breaststroker after all. Tomita, 21, is a rising star.
Ye Shiwen - She certainly wasn't an unknown before this meet started after a strong LC season, but this was the first time I got to see Ye Shiwen live... I wasn't disappointed. The youngster is an extraordinary talent and had she not come up against a possessed Spainiard in the Medleys we would be talking a lot more about this 15 year old.
Cesar Cielo - The sprint Freestyles on the men's side were stacked with the world's best, and Cesar Cielo once again rose to the top. I sound like a broken record when I talk about him, but he is just an incredible major meet swimmer.
Garrett Weber-Gale - Special mention to GWG for blowing away Nikita Lobintsev in the final relay of the competition. Diving in 0.04 seconds ahead of the individual bronze medalist in the 100m Free, it would be fair to assume that he was the underdog, however GWG found another level to rip off a 45.42 split for USA's first and only relay victory. Don't tell anyone, but USA might have found Jason Lezak's successor.
The swimming world have spoken, and this is what they had to say:-
"Ian Thorpe, enough time chilling out in the sun, get back in training and make a comeback."
Thorpe was the clear winner of the comeback vote getting 138 votes. The runner up was Pieter Van Den Hoogenband (80 votes) with fellow Dutch legend Inge de Bruijn (75 votes) just 5 votes back.
- Pieter VDH on the other hand is 32 years old now and seems to have moved on in other areas of the sport. He was the Chairman of the Organising Committee for the recent European Short Course Championships. He also has two children, so his life looks to be pretty full. Still looks like he could bash out a quick 100m Free though...
- Inge de Bruijn is an intriguing prospect. Whilst she is now 37 years old, she has made a comeback once before earlier in her career. There are also plenty of examples of sprinters acheiving top results in their late 30s, early 40s... Dara Torres, 43, Lars Frölander, 36, Mark Foster, who swam until he was 38. You can't tell me every time she sees Dara Torres step up on the block, she's not itching to get back into racing.
In August stories came out that she was considering a comeback after spending some time with the Dutch team at a training camp in Tenerife. It seemed to start out as a joke, but started to take a bit more shape.
An Inge de Bruijn comeback wouldn't just be a trip down memory lane, I think she would challenge the current crop of Free and Fly sprinters. IF she does comeback, the first obstacle would be the domestic competition in Holland, the strongest women's sprint nation around.
- Other interesting results: Ian Crocker getting more votes than Brendan Hansen, lack of enthusiasm for a Susie O'Neill comeback, pretty low vote for Yana Klochkova (she got a vote from me).
Final Results
Ian Thorpe - 138 votes (41% of people voted for him)
Pieter VDH - 80 (15%)
Inge de Bruijn - 75 (22%)
Alex Popov - 57 (16%)
Ian Crocker - 41 (12%)
Brendan Hansen - 35 (10%)
Mark Foster - 34 (10%)
Janet Evans - 21 (6%)
Gary Hall Jr - 19 (5%)
Yana Klochkova - 15 (4%)
Lenny Krazelburg - 14 (4%)
Susie O'Neill - 8 (2%)
Coverage starts at 3:15pm London time, 15 minutes after the finals session starts (Unfortunately its more cross country skiing to get through before the swimming starts).
Today should be a fantastic end to the meet of the year.
- Cesar Cielo v Fabien Gilot in the 100m Free.
- Lochte in the 200m Back and then 12 minutes later in the 100m IM.
- Therese Alshammar v Felicity Galvez Part II in the 100m Fly.
- Hoff, Pellegrini, Muffat, Palmer, Yi Tang, Evans, Verraszto & Vollmer in a stacked 200m Free final.
- Race of the night. Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay featuring Lochte on the Fly leg for Team USA. Great race in prospect with USA, Russia, France battling it out in the middle lanes. Watch out for an outside challenge from a loaded Brazilian team.
After three thrilling days of competition, Day Four in Dubai offered a bit of a breather...
- The Dutch quartet took Gold in the Women's 4 x 100m Free relay, but missed out on the World Record by 0.32 seconds.
You could see their mixture of emotions. Happiness to win, but disappointment that they didn't break the record. Their disappointment was trumped by just one other person... myself. After a spectacularly well thought out prediction before the competition started, I had a self-congratulatory blog all ready to go. This was supposed to be my Watergate moment. The Pullitzer prize givers probably already started to engrave my name on the medal. Sadly, it wasn't to be.
Frankly, they should have cleared the record comfortably. Femke Heemskerk led off 0.15 seconds slower than her individual final time from last night and Ranomi Kromowidjojo swam just 0.03 seconds faster than her final time, despite the benefit of having a relay take over. Inge Dekker and Hinkelein Schreuder both had solid legs, if not spectacular legs.
- Ryan Lochte gave Peter Mankoc's world record a scare in the semi final of the 100m IM. Lochte's time of 50.81 was just 0.05 seconds shy of the veteran Slovenian's mark. I'm not sure if it was pleasant experience or not for Mankoc, but he was able to 'enjoy' Lochte's swim the lane next to him.
The scheduling is not conducive for the record to go tomorrow as Lochte will have the 200m Backstroke final just minutes before the 100m IM final, with only the Women's 200m Breaststroke final in between the two finals. If anyone can pull off that kind of double, its Lochte. He's been racing tough all year in domestic meets, swimming multiple events on short rests. Hopefully the meet organisers will throw in some medal presentations to pad out the amount of rest the American can get.
- Mireia Belmonte added the 200m IM crown to her golds in the 200m Fly and 400m IM, as well as her 800m Free silver (had the race been 805m Free we would be talking about a four-time individual gold medallist). Eurosport had satellite problems so I didn't see the race, which is a shame because from the splits it looked like a great race. Katinka Hosszu led after the fly, the lead then passed to Missy Franklin after the back, Ariana Kukors was in the top spot after the Breastroke before Belmonte and Ye Shiwen stormed clear of the field on the Freestyle.
Belmonte is no stranger to success on the international stage, but this competition has taken her to a new level. It will be interesting to see in the coming months whether this is a breakthrough meet for the Spaniard that leads to greater success in the Long Course pool, or whether she is predominantly a Short Course specialist.
Watch Live (once the cross country skiiing has finished... No offense to any cross country fans, but this has to go down as one of the most tedious sports...)
- Lochte once again dominated proceedings tonight in the 200m IM... Not that it wasn't forecast, this was THE record that was earmarked to go before the meet.... but Lochte didn't just break it, he SHATTERED it.
Ryan Lochte swam 200m IM in 1:50.08. That is a great freestyle time, Lochte swam IM.
- Robo-Kromo was at it again. At European Short Cousre, Ranomi Kromowidjojo won in a time of 51.44. At World Short Course, she won in 51.45. Femke Heemskerk followed home in second for a robotic Dutch 1-2, just pipping Natalie Coughlin.
- I loved the Women's 400m Free. A look at the start list before the race showed what a strong event it would be, but also how open the race could be. That was true right up until the moment Katie Hoff dived in, and then duly dominated the race. Hoff took the lead from Kylie Palmer at 250m and never looked like relinquishing it.
Speed Endurance would like to welcome back Katie Hoff to the top of world swimmiing.
Here's what else impressed me, Chloe Sutton, finishing 4th at World SHORT COURSE. I've picked up on Sutton's turns all year, but they have improved a huge amount. Are they as good as Hoff's? No... but they are a lot closer than they were previously. In 2011, Long Course... watch out.
- Cesar Cielo, in a pair of jammers, just swam 20.51 for 50m Freestyle. I don't know what else to say. - Sensational. Too good.
Say what you like about his performance at Pan Pacs, on the global stage he's come through once again.
What drives his success on the biggest stage is his mental strength, one of the more underrated strengths at major championships.
- Another swimmer showing a lot of character tonight was Paul Biedermann. Positioned out in Lane 8 for the 400m Free final, Biedermann put on a great show of tactical racing and fast swimming. He allowed Ous Mellouli to set the pace, hung with him for 300m and then dropped 'Der Hammer' to record a superb time of 3:57.07.
If you are a regular reader of the blog, it is no secret that I am a fan of Biedermann's. Today is the first day, with confidence, that I can say that Biedermann has proved his doubters wrong. Paul Biedermann can swim fast without a techsuit.
Two further world records were crushed tonight. This is getting ridiculous, its making a mockery of our sport. Jammers and Kneesuits should be banned immediately...
- Ryan Lochte became the first individual swimmer to break a World Record post-techsuit. Rather than shave a tenth or two from Laszlo Cseh's record, he obliterated it. Lochte took control of the race on the Breaststroke once again, flying past Tyler Clary, who had a decent lead (0.74 secs) over Lochte at the 200m mark.
Unlike some of the other swimming sites on the net, I'm holding off on my end of year Top Male/Top Female/Top Performance lists until the only global competition of the year has taken place. Last week Lochte had some competition for Top Male of 2010 from a French Backstroker, Japanese Breaststroker and two Chinese and South Korean Freestylers. It looks like the contest is well and truly over now.
- The second world record of the evening went in the most exciting race of Day Two. Russia and USA were locked in a head to head battle in the 4 x 200m Freestyle relay. Consistency won in the end with only 0.37 seconds splitting all four of Russia's relay legs. The US fell behind after Peter Vanderkaay's 1:43.83 before Ryan Lochte got them right back into the race with an incredible 1:40.48. Despite superior turns and underwaters, the US weren't able to overhaul the Russian team.
The fact that the US came so close to a full strength Russian team, and crushed the previous world record themselves... all without Michael Phelps should provide some comfort for any nervous US swim fans out there...
... Alternatively you could take the view that we have seen 3 of the 6 relays in Dubai. USA have finished 4th, 4th and 2nd, have little chance in the Women's 4 x 100m Free and only look to be strong favourites in the Women's 4 x 100m Medley relay.
- Sticking with the US. Natalie Coughlin showed that no one is better when it comes to short course Backstroke. Coughlin (56.08) held off a strong Chinese challenge from Zhao Jing (56.18) and Gao Chang (56.21).
After watching the semi final I was beginning to doubt Coughlin's superiority on turns and underwaters. In the final tonight she showed that she is still the best in the world. Just incredible off the walls.
- Stanislav Donets might just be the new undisputed king of backstroke underwaters on the men's side. Donets just missed out on Nick Thoman's world record of 48.94 on the touch, settling for a stunning time of 49.07. Donets is having an incredible few weeks of short course swimming. Peter Marshall's world record on the 50m Backstroke is definitely on this week. Donets might also be the difference maker in the 4 x 100m Medley relay.
- Talking of the world's best, Cesar Cielo is the best sprinter in the world. His 20.61 semi final tonight was one of the most dominant SC 50m Free's you're likely to see. Fred Bousquet in the lane over was blown away by Cielo, in fact the entire field going into tomorrow's final are half a second behind.
Same old Cesar Cielo, getting it done on the big stage.
I'm not sure what happened to Nathan Adrian tonight, it looked like he didn't get his breakout right after his turn. His heat time would have got him safely through to the final. Not the meet many expected so far for Adrian. - Rebecca Soni won the 50m Breast in 29.83 going away from the field. Watch out on the 100m and 200m. - Femke Heemskerk and Ranomi Kromowidjojo go into the 100m Free final tomorrow ranked 1-2. I fully expect them to come out of the final with the top two spots, although I think Ranomi KRobotKromowidjojo will come out on top.
- Finally, what a meet Spain are having... Mireia Belmonte was the star of the show last night with two individual golds and almost got herself a third in the 800m Free. Only her team mate Erika Villaecija stood in her way tonight as they recorded a Spanish 1-2, something you do not say often on the world stage of swimming.
Swimming fans around the world, rejoice... our sport is saved.
It feels like the end of Star Wars. Luke Skywalker is burning Paul Biedermann's bodysuit, the ewoks are going nuts, C3:PO's doing the robot like he just don't care... all celebrating the end of the techsuit era. The sport's darkest hour has passed... a World Record has been broken again.
It won't sit well with many sceptics that China was the first nation to acheive the feat, but I happen to believe in innocent until proven guilty. Is it such a surprise that a nation that became more professional, worked harder, and brought in the best coaches from around the world for their home Olympics are reaping the rewards two years later?
What a statement. What symbolism that China, as a nation, were the first to break a world record in 2010. "The times, they are a-changin'" (and getting faster again).
A look at the splits tells the story. China won it because of their incredible strength in depth. Every swimmer was either on 1:53 or 1:54. They didn't have the fastest splits of the race, Australia's Kylie Palmer took that accolade with an incredible 1:52.42, Camille Muffat, France, led off in an equally impressive 1:53.17 with Katie Hoff just behind in 1:53.37. They just flat out had the strongest team, an area the US has dominated in for years.
The excitement didn't end there on a superb Day One of competition...
- The French have finally figured out how to win a 4 x 100m Freestyle relay. You pick your best 4 swimmers and don't let Alain Bernard swim last.
A closer look shows that Isotov was taking advice from Bernard in the call room. His split of 46.48 on the final leg is a long way short of what was expected of him. His team mates were in the 45.7, 45.8 range and he is supposed to be the Russian No.1 in this event. I think its fair to say that Isotov lost this relay rather than Yannick Agnel won it.
- With regards to the individual Men's 100m Free, Cesar Cielo put down a marker with his split of 45.08, the fastest split by some margin. Nathan Adrian was some way off that with his lead off effort of 47.35. Alain Bernard, 46.78 , and Steffen Nystrand, 46.70 both had solid lead legs but will need to make up ground on the Brazilian World and Olympic champion.
Classic Cielo... just dominating major meets.
- Outside of the relays, the undoubted star of the evening was Spain's Mireia Belmonte Garcia, who won an incredibly tough double this evening.
First up was the 200m Fly final (8:05pm) that saw Liu Zige and Felicity Galvez take the race out ahead of world record pace at 100m.They paid the price though. As both women started to drop back, Belmonte Garcia and Britain's Jemma Lowe turned on the jets to take the top two spots in 2:03.59 and 2:03.94. At the 100m mark they were placed 7th and 8th respectively. That's how you pace a race. Belmonte Garcia's final 50m (31.58) was faster than her third 50m (31.72), the only woman achieving to this feat in the final.
The fly victory was impressive, but the 400m IM was a performance to leave you stunned. Swimming the final at 8:49pm, just 44 minutes after the 200m Fly, Belmonte (4:24.21) won a battle against China's Ye Shiwen (4:24.55). The key to this race was the Breaststroke leg as the Spaniard came from nowhere to take the lead. Her split of 1:13.51 was over 3 seconds faster than the next fastest breaststroke split. Going into the freestyle leg against Ye Shiwen, who won a World Cup leg in the 100m Free, now was the time the tiredness would surely kick in... but it never came. Belmonte came back sub-60 seconds to round off an incredible evening's work.
Credit also to Ye Shiwen, just 14 years of age, she showed real fight and pushed Belmonte incredibly hard. Her last leg of 59.03 was extremely impressive. The future looks bright for this swimmer. She should be hailed alongside swimmers such as Yannick Agnel and Silke Lippok as one of swimming's brightest talents.
- Ryan Lochte got the evening off to a strong start with his 1:41.08. An excellent first race out of the way for the American. Hopefully he'll get even faster as the meet continues and maybe even break a world record or two.
Paul Biedermann didn't have a race to remember, finishing down in 5th. Cue the claims that Biedermann is just a suit swimmer blah blah blah. I'm tired of hearing it. The German is a great athlete swimming in arguably the most loaded event on the men's side. - A race to watch out for tomorrow is definitely the Men's 100m Breaststroke. Mike Alexandrov (57.18), Felipe Silva and Cameron Van Der Burgh (both 57.19) are split by just 0.01 seconds going into the final. Fabio Scozzoli on 57.34 is also looking in fine form after a sub-58 heat swim too. For fans of the 200m Breast, Daniel Gyurta and Naoya Tomita both made it through and look in good form.
- Talking of showdowns, the Men's 100m Back should be another tasty final. Stanislav Donets is the in-form swimmer after his times at European SC and he qualified fastest tonight in 49.62. Camille Lacourt, the star of LC Backstroke this year was second fastest in 50.53 with World Record holder Nick Thoman third in 50.69. Tough final to call.
- Check back in tomorrow for more live video and analysis.
Thomas Jefferson - "I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past."
In a bold move that Jefferson would be proud of, I am sticking my head above the parapet and predicting a World Record in the Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle relay.
There are plenty of records under threat in Dubai...Darian Townsend's 200m IM mark looks to be on borrowed time with Ryan Lochte and his metal teeth lurking. Rebecca Soni has been threatening LC records all year, no reason not to think she can't challenge the SC marks either. The men's 50m Back mark came under heavy fire from Stanislav Donets at the European SC Champs and he will be joined by Camille Lacourt, the same man who narrowly missed the LC mark. These are all records that have a solid chance of being broken.
The current Women's 4 x 100m Free relay world record, however, makes those other marks look like they are on safe ground by comparison. The time of 3:28.22 was set back in December 2008, notably, before the tech-suits became even faster. The record went to Holland with their quartet of Hinkelein Schreuder (52.88), Inge Dekker (52.24), Ranomi Kromowidjojo (52.12) and Marleen Veldhuis (50.98!).
The same team, with a slightly tweaked line-up, will challenge the record again, and the worrying aspect for whoever signs the World Record bonus cheques... they are even better than they were two years ago.
Here is the Dutch team this year with their season best SC times:-
Now comes the exciting part. Take off 0.5 seconds for each of the three relay takeovers (a conservative estimate) and the time is now 3:28.38 (just missing the WR of 3:28.22). Finally, lets not forget that we are at the World Championships, a competition you would expect some improvement from some, if not all of the team and suddenly it no longer looks like an issue of CAN the Dutch break the World Record, but more like by HOW MUCH.
My heart tells me that Chloe Sutton might get amongst it in the 400m Free, I just worry about the turns… for that reason I’m taking Hoff ahead of Sutton.
Men’s 200 Breast
1. Naoya Tomita
2. Daniel Gyurta
3. Eric Shanteau
Women’s 400 Medley Relay
1. United States
2. Netherlands
3. Australia
As is the norm in international relays, it will come down to the Breaststroke. Soni > everyone else.
Women’s 50 Back
1. Gao Chang
2. Zhao Jing
3. Alexandra Herasimenia
Men’s 100 Free
1. Cesar Cielo
2. Nathan Adrian
3.Danila Izotov
Men’s 400 Medley Relay
1. Brazil
2. Russia
3. France
Brazil have a dynamite team. Guido, Silva, Almeida and oh yeah... Cesar Cielo. Russia & France are also stacked. Is it possible that USA don’t medal in the 4 x 100m Medley relay?
Just 8 days left to get your votes in for 'Who Would You Most Like to See Make a Comeback for 2012?'
At 275 votes so far, this has been by far the most popular vote on this blog.
Thorpedo currently leads the way with an impressive 114 votes, however a recent Dutch surge has vaulted Pieter VDH and Inge De Bruijn clearly ahead of the chasing pack.
The early enthusiasm for a Brendan Hansen or Ian Crocker return is dwindling, whilst any Ukrainians and Australians who haven't voted might want to show some much needed appreciation for Yana Klochkova and Susie O'Neill.
Gun to my head, with just one vote, I would vote for Thorpe.... run close by VDH, Inge De Bruijn, Hansen, Crocker, Klochkova & Alex Popov.
